Elastomeric materials have been employed in numerous applications, including in providing support surfaces in furniture. For example, panels of elastomeric material have been retained by various arrangements relative to frames to act as seating and back support surfaces in chairs. In many applications, a pre-tensioning of the elastomeric material has been employed to facilitate the support characteristics of the occupant.
Providing varied support characteristics relative to different areas of such articles can be desirable. As such, the present inventor has recognized that a variable pattern of pre-tensioning of the elastomeric material can provide varying levels of support and resistance to deflection in different portions of a structure. For example, variable pre-tensioning can be employed to provide enhanced support to a seat occupant's lumbar or posterior regions while providing added flexibility relative to other portions of an occupant's body.
While variable pre-tensioning is advantageous for these and further reasons, it is now recognized by the present inventor that enabling post-assembly tension adjustment in elastomeric material applications would be uniquely advantageous for a plurality of reasons including, for example, enabling various occupants to adjust tensioning in a given article of furniture to accommodate their unique needs and comfort characteristics, to accommodate any plastic deformation in materials, and for still further reasons.